After my death our beloved Church abroad will break three ways ... first the Greeks will leave us as they were never a part of us ... then those who live for this world and its glory will go to Moscow ... what will remain will be those souls faithful to Christ and His Church.~St. Philaret of NY

reposed in the Lord, peacefully at home, last night (Wednesday 9/28 after Vespers) about 9:30pm Tennessee time. The family is working on setting the date for the funeral. Maybe Saturday or maybe Monday. I will post it here as soon as possible and other updates as I receive them.

Please wait until after the funeral is arranged to call the family.

Our ROCOR is saying farewell to a giant. There is nobody to take his place. He leaves many orphans.

____________________________

update (12:00pm):Funeral will be Monday morning. Time to be announced.

In the meantime ROCOR-MP Dcn. Matthew is planning to post updated information on the parish website, so you can try this link:

After years of devoted service to God, our dear father and brother,
Archpriest Gregory Williams, reposed in the Lord late last night. Please pray for his
salvation, and for the consolation of his family and flock. Unto the
servant of God, the Archpriest Gregory, O Lord, grant rest perpetual in
blessed repose, and make his memory to be eternal!

I was not personally acquainted with him, but everyone knew heard about it are true followers of St John of Shanghai in the Orthodox Church. About him only good, positive was heard ...

Kingdom of Heaven, the newly departed father Archpriest Gregory th!

+ Protodeacon. Hermann

+3 Sergey 29.09.2016 17:14

This man - a legend, the saint of the day. It every day for many years continuously feeding hundreds of hungry Haitian children. I saw with my own eyes how he moved barefoot in light plastic slippers in late November 2008 in the streets of New Jersey when sleet. I was told that because it does not depend on the place and time in the example of St John of Shanghai. He had three sons and they all became Orthodox priests on the island of Haiti, who are also involved in charity spine. But unfortunately in the selection of the true ROCOR in 2008, only one stayed with him. I had the honor to take his blessing. He himself was an English and miraculously came exactly in the ROCA. I am happy that I was with him a brief sign, and I think that this vessel is the Holy Ghost witness the life of the Lord God is the Holy Spirit in our Church! We pray to God for us and our church father Gregory righteous! P.S. this death is no accident occurred precisely on the eve of the coming temptation in the Americas

+5 Metropolitan Agafangel 09/29/2016 15:40

The heavy and irreplaceable loss not only for us but also for the mission in Haiti, the school that it has equipped about. Gregory:

When there is no one to help on earth, there is still help from heaven. This from Fr. Gregory in Tennessee:

September 10, 2016

The database which for many years (probably 20 or more) has faithfully produced output for the pocket and wall calendars continues to be stubborn (or my brain too feeble), so those projects are in dire jeopardy. Some special prayers for sudden illumination greatly appreciated. If I don't find a resolution by the end of the month, I'll have to pronounce them permanently dead. Fortunately, this does not affect the Liturgical Calendar, which runs on an entirely different database.

September 12, 2016

OK here... except for an as yet unresolved problem with data exports for all and pocket calendars. If I can't resolve it by the end of the month, I'll have to declare those projects dead. Fortunately, the liturgical calendar is unaffected.

September 26, 2016

After hours (over several weeks) of fussing & mucking around, this afternoon after lunch I served a molieben to St. John of SF, begging his help with the wall and pocket calendar export problem (and I know many others have been praying as well!). Still took another hour or so of muddling around, but I finally found the "magic button" in the antique software, and within minutes rolled out an export/import draft for the 2017 Wall Calendar. Quickly followed up with 2018, 2019 & 2020. I intend to keep going to about 2030... SURELY by that time we'll have a modern satisfactory replacement for the antique database... but, if not...! The pocket calendar suffers from the same circumstances, but it's reasonable to assume the same magic button will work for it. SO... it's a virtual certainty that both calendars will be available for 2017 and years beyond. Thanks be to God, and to St. John!

The
Anaphora, Communion Hymn, and Apolysis of this morning's Liturgy for
the Leave-taking of the Nativity of the Theotokos as chanted by the
Schola Cantorum. The conclusion of the Cherubic Hymn is that of Gregory
Protopsaltis, the Communion Hymn -I will take the cup of salvation is
that of Petros Lampadarios in the 1st Mode.

John Peter Presson

Protopsaltis of the Diocese of Etna and Portland

Director of Liturgical Music -Holy Nativity of the Theotokos Cathedral -Portland, OR

As it is well known to many, in the past few months in New York state, a number of agitators have "landed" for the split of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (4 people), and they are all very active in fulfilling their assigned mission. Has this happened before in the history of ROCA? I do not remember, probably, like it was in the leading-up to 2007, but then unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to it. But now, due to our small size , it is clearly visible. Obviously, just as the split in 2007 was planned and guided by the Russian Federation, it can be seen that the current initiative stems from the same place and the same source. . . .

On the feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most-Holy Mother of God, we commemorate how the three-year-old Virgin Mary was brought to the Temple of God by her parents in fulfillment of their oath and how the high-priest, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, led the Virgin into the Holy of Holies. The All-Holy Virgin Mary came from righteous ancestry in which the grace of God had grown over generations and had reached such a level in the Virgin Mary that She Herself was able to become the chosen vessel, the receptacle of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of the Redeemer of fallen mankind, the Mother of Him Who will destroy the work of the serpent and will return our lost paradise to us, and even more, will sanctify our nature. Christ will give us that which the serpent could only tempt mankind with by saying, . . .and ye shall be as gods(Gen. 3: 5). Christ will give us that which the serpent could not possibly give.

The Entry into the Temple is considered a children's feast day. We, imitating our parents, bring our children to God's church on this day and other feast days and Sundays so that they may partake of God's grace. However, who among us actively monitors that which surrounds our children during the rest of the time? Who among us investigates their play, their school programs, and the influences to which they are subjected?

We who were born and reared abroad were protected from unOrthodox influence during our childhood, protected from the non-Orthodox environment in which a process opposing the accumulation of grace has been occurring for many generations, a process of spiritual dissipation, spiritual theft, and spiritual deviation.

However, a few decades have passed and the boundaries are beginning to be effaced. During discourses with other Orthodox Christians on bringing up children, one frequently hears statements like the following: "They [the children] are living in this society They need to belong somewhere. They cannot exist in a vacuum. It is not likely that they will return to Russia — when will this come about? We cannot sit around and wait." If thirty or forty years ago, control and vigilance were needed on the part of our parents to keep our Russian heritage and Orthodox Faith intact, then this kind of vigilance has become even more critically important today. The question is no longer one of saving our children's ethnicity. It is a question of saving their very souls.

Pushing forward toward global rule, the powers of darkness have prepared for themselves favorable ground so that at the right time, at the culminating moment of his appearance, the overwhelming majority of the world's inhabitants will readily accept the Antichrist as both their political and spiritual leader. This preliminary work has been in progress for a long time, and most people sense to what extent the powers of darkness have been successful, how great the apostasy is of all society. A person who has read political and religious periodicals, even superficially, during the last few years cannot help but take notice of the recurrence of the concepts of the New World Order and its religious counterpart the New Age Movement. These concepts are presented as ideas conceived by the most illuminated minds. They are presented as the only exit out of the existing global crisis, as the last hope for salvation, as the greatest good for achieving mutual tolerance and love. Thus, these concepts are easily swallowed by a gullible, near-sighted crowd in the name of peace, ecology and well-being. Where the New World Order will lead is self-evident. However, what is the New Age Movement?

The New Age Movement is a conglomerate of pagan practices with a mixing of ancient mysteries, Hindu mysticism, humanism, occultism, and luciferism. The main concept of the New Age Movement, the idea which permeates and connects all of the various aspects of this new religion, their common denominator, is the concept of a higher force, a god of forces, in which every enlightened person has a part. It is, further, an understanding of the 'godness’ of man's essence and one’s ability to tap into this godhood-of-self by means of prescribed and verified techniques. Using the words of one prominent New Age proselytizer, actress Shirley MacLaine: "Man has existed from the beginning of time and space. . .Man was the co-creator with the God of the Cosmos. . .the tragedy of the human race was that we had forgotten that we were each divine. . .You must never worship anyone or anything other than self. For you are God. To love self is to love God. . .I know that I exist, therefore I am. I know that the God source exists, therefore it is. Since I am part of that force, then I am that I am. . ." (Shirley MacLaine, Out on a Limb).

Are MacLaine’s words not a repeat of the serpent’s lie with which he tempted the first people by saying, . . .ye shall be as gods(Gen. 3: 5)? Is this not the very same lie which brought about man's fall when he accepted it, which brought about his eviction from paradise and brought about his death? Is not man's acceptance of this lie the reason why Christ needed to come to earth and take upon Himself suffering for our redemption? Going back even further in time, is this not a repeat of the rebellion against God by Lucifer, who was so overcome with pride that he attempted to place his throne in the place of God's throne? According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Americans believe in some aspect of New Age teachings. These ideas have permeated all spheres of society and education. However, this is not sufficient for those coming into power. They need to change the consciousness of mankind in its foundation. Therefore, they have started with the most available, the most naive and susceptible group. The last and most frightening phase of this onslaught has begun; it is a phase in which the remnants of Christian thinking will receive their final blow. The arena has been transferred to the souls of children.

The substitution of the New Age thinking for Christian awareness starts at home with the pre-school children under the very noses of the parents. This is accomplished through toys and television, through games and video games. I will not dwell on the subject of toys. There is a wonderful two-volumed book, Turmoil in the Toy Box by Phil Phillips, that enumerates all the toys on today's market and discusses all the harm that these toys cause, from the obviously harmful toys (i.e.. Ninja Turtles, Ouiji Boards, and Masters of the Universe) to those seemingly innocuous and even cute toys (i.e., Rainbow Bright, and Care Bears). They are all filled with either New Age symbolism or ideas of actual magic and occultism. There is also much written on the subject of the game, Dungeons and Dragons, which is a well-thought-out introduction to the occult for the youth, a game which frequently leads children to suicide. Despite the mounting evidence of the harm that this game can cause, a special edition of the game has been incorporated into programs used in public schools!

I will say only this about television: If in the past it merely took away precious time, corrupted its viewers with all forms of pornography and violence (according to statistics a child before finishing high school will witness 18,000 murders on television), prevented them from active thinking, creative activity, paralyzed their imagination, and made them passive recipients of the information that the networks wished to present, then, in addition to all of the above, it is today a tool of socio-religious indoctrination through which concepts of good and evil are presented in a totally inverted manner against the backdrop of magic, the supernatural, and the demonic. One need only to turn on the television in order to investigate the meaning behind the majority of children's programming from cartoons to films, to delve into those ideas which are presented, and to study their forms of presentation, in order to be convinced of this. In the prologue to the He-Man cartoons, the children are taught that Adam (He-Man's name) received wondrous magical powers when he raised his sword and proclaimed, "By the power of Gray Scull, I am the power." He then settled in ’Eternia', a land of swamps and demons, a land of the most advanced technology and science, in the magical castle of Gray Scull; he became the most powerful man in the universe. In other words, the children are taught that the acceptance of the serpent’s lie did not bring about man's eviction from paradise as the Church teaches: It teaches that he [Adam] was justified. Adam received what the serpent promised by rising against his Creator.

Similarly, Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony, Care Bear, and Smurf cartoons are filled with magic and the occult. Many do not know the meaning of the rainbow in the New Age. It is the 'Antahkarana' or the rainbow bridge which they build between man and Lucifer, the ‘Over-soul’ (Constance Cumbey's, Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow).

I need not even mention the harm that MTV does. On this television station, one hears eulogies to Satan himself along with screams and shrieks which come from squirming, demonic-looking beings amidst a deafening cacophony. These lyrics are sometimes hidden, and one can clearly hear these horrible words only by playing them backwards, as can be done on a reel-to-reel tape-recorder. In his book, Devil's Disciples – The Truth about Rock and Roll, Jeff Godwen devotes 350 pages to the unveiling of various rock groups and their songs hidden lyrics in all their blasphemous horror. It is fearful to write this; however, I give as an example the lyrics of one favorite song, Stairway to Heaven, with which most readers are familiar. When they are played in reverse, ‘devil-style’, they read:

I sing because I live with Satan

The Lord turns me off

There's no escaping it

Here's to my . . . . . .

He will give you 666

I live for S....

The CBS Evening News first carried this story in April 1982.

These words are indeed terrifying to repeat. However, this is only one song, only one example of hundreds, which our youth listens to constantly. Jamers Yarrol, a specialist in the area of the human mind, who had been called as an expert witness to the California legislature, states that the human brain can distinguish and decipher even those messages that are given to it in reverse or at the subliminal level. They are automatically incorporated into the conscious sector of the brain. As a result, the hidden worship of Satan becomes implanted in the listener's mind after he frequently listens to Stairway to Heaven.

Even the children of believing Orthodox parents (though they are parents who are not attentive enough or do not wish to somehow curtail their children's desires) frequently grow up with non-Christian, even anti-Christian directives. With such a beginning, the children enter into public school where all these ideas are repeated and strengthened.

It is interesting to note that the New Age religion with all its aspects was invited into our public schools and promoted while Christianity was simultaneously and unceremoniously booted out of the public schools by the 1970 Supreme Court ruling [which banned the use of prayer or the public practice of religion in our public schools]. Statements of people who create the direction for the educational programs used in public schools and who develop these programs reveal the philosophy behind these new educational movements. As early as 1973, Christian Pierce, a professor of Harvard University, in front of a national convention of teachers held in Denver, Colorado, stated: "Every child in America who enters school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with allegiance toward our elected officials, toward our founding fathers, to his parents. . .with faith in a Higher Power. . .with patriotism and nationalism. . . this all proves the children are sick because the truly well individual is one who has rejected all of those things and is what 1 would call the true international child of the future" (Christian Awareness Newsletter, 1991). Ashley Montague in her lecture to teachers in Anaheim, California gave the following statement: "The American family structure produces mentally ill children" (William Bowen, Globalism: America's Demise).

The National Education Association, which has been the strongest teacher's union in the United States since 1857 and which currently has over 70% of America's teachers as members, seems to totally support these views. In a report on education, they write that the schools will become clinics whose purpose is to provide individualized psycho-social treatment for the student and that teachers must become psycho-social therapists.

In 1983, John Dunphy, a humanist, wrote: "I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith. . . the classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new, the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will finally be achieved" (The Humanist, Jan-Feb 1983).

Marilyn Fuguson, a prominent New Ager notes, "tens of thousands of classroom teachers, educational consultants and psychologists, counselors, administrators. . . have been among the millions engaged in personal transformation" (Aquarian Conspiracy, 1980). Indeed, if a teacher is to remain in his profession, it is becoming mandatory for him to literally change over and to accept these new concepts. Under the guise of innovation and of livening up a program for the benefit of the students, various anti-Christian principles are being thrust by teachers upon the children entrusted to them. Children themselves state that they are frequently warned not to disclose to anyone what happens in the classroom.

What can actually happen there? One public school teacher from Canada, Maria Monetta, writes that she brings in special speakers. occultists, who are experts in their fields and that she, "always instructs them to give the kids an experience not just lecture at them. . . We do some pretty amazing things: psychic readings, shamanism, crystals, witchcraft . . .meditation in class . . . and then they write about it. We burn candles and hold a full-moon ceremony once a month. . . One time, I was conducting a spring equinox celebration for the kids. I had the altar all set up. . . .flowers, the candles were lit on the altar — and the principal walked in! Fortunately, he was a new principal and he was thrilled with what we were doing" ('Parapsychology and Traditional Education' conference, from Through Crisis to Transformation, June 1987).

In the Los Angeles Times, June 1986, there was a reference to the San Jose public library which invited a well-known witch, Zuzan Budapest, to talk about magic and other practices of her religion.

Other occult practices, which the New age religion has elevated to the level of virtue, are thrust on the students in the public school classrooms under the guise of exercises for concentration, relaxation, or increased self-confidence. Having studied the techniques recommended (for example, the technique for relaxation), it immediately becomes clear that behind these innocent sounding concepts are hidden techniques by which eastern mystics practice their religion, methods by which they open up the ‘third eye’, which are necessary, according to their teachings, for the development of the ‘higher consciousness’, ‘the godhood'.

In her book, Child Abuse in the Classroom, Phyllis Shlafly enumerates many examples which were taken from a 13,000-page court record of a hearing in the Federal Department of Education in March of 1982. Parents from all across the United States were protesting against systematic conducting of yoga sessions, transcendental meditation, hypnosis, etc., with their children.

Many teachers quite consciously lead their students into states of meditation and trance. They purposely change the terminology in order to conceal their intentions: "If you still have trouble when bringing this program to your children, parents. . . school administrators. . .use alternative terms like: awareness training, concentration, centering, awareness games, realization, etc." (Deborah Rozman, Meditating with Children).

Another New Age writer can be quoted: "One of the biggest advantages we have as New Agers is, once the occult, metaphysical, and New Age terminology is removed, we have concepts and techniques that are very acceptable to the general public. So we change the names and demonstrate their power. In so doing, we open the New Age door to millions who would not normally be receptive" (Dick Suphen, Infiltrating the New Age into Society, 1986).

In the state of Washington, this teaching is presented under the name of Thinking Skills; in Florida, Quieting Reflexes and Success Imagery; in Minnesota, Whole Mind Learning; in New Mexico, Developing the Understanding of Self and Others (DUSO); in California, Project Goal, Project Star, Project Plus, etc. . . .

The gifted child is subjected to the greatest danger because it is from them that the ranks of the New World elite will be filled. From the earliest age, they are introduced to the occult in all its forms: building and using ouiji boards, telepathy, palm reading, channelling, and the training of the third eye. As a result, they become mediums or psychics, things which are categorically forbidden and denounced in the Bible: And when thou shalt have entered into the land which the Lord thy Cod giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found in thee one who purgeth his son or his daughter with fire, one who useth divination, who deals with omens, and augury, a sorcerer employing incantation, one who hath in him a divining spirit, and observer of signs, questioning the dead. For every one that doeth these things is an abomination to the Lord thy God; for because of these abominations the Lord will destroy them from before thy face(Deuteronomy 18: 9-12).

According to an article in the journal, Gifted Child Monthly, one foremost figure in the field of education, Dr. Dorothy Sisk, writes, "There are a number of things adults can do that are very helpful in building leadership in young children and youth." She talks further about the power of ‘intuition’ (a euphemism for psychic powers) which is necessary for leaders and about how parents can develop these powers in their children by means of continual practice in the field of the Eastern occult. Reiterating these views, a California educator, Barbara Clark, writes in her teacher's manual, which was distributed to all California public school teachers, that the ancient wisdoms of the Chinese, Hindus, Egyptians, and other age-old teachings are being validated by science.

The most terrifying of these activities which are indoctrinating our children in the public schools is their introduction to so-called ‘spirit guides’. This is done by leading the children into a state of trance. If this seems too fantastic, too far-fetched, then listen to the words of Dr. Beverly Galyean, who developed a federally funded program under the name of Confluent Education for the city of Los Angeles: "Students are told to look into the sun. As they do, the face of a very wise person slowly appears. . . listen to this person speaking. . .You may engage in conversation."

Dr. Charles Soebel instructs in his program which is used in the public schools in Florida: "Picture yourself in a peaceful location. . .Now a figure is coming toward you. He is friendly and can be young or old; speak to the wise person and welcome him into your safe place. Get to know your wise person. You can invite him back anytime."

These ‘wise persons’ are the same ‘spirit guides’ which are indispensable for the successful development of one's ‘godness’. Mystics contact their spirit guides in the identical manner prescribed for the public school children. It should be noted that this practice is allowed to be used only when the mystics reach a certain stage of development. Their teachings warn of the dangers of experimenting with such things by a person who is not ready, dangers for the mind, for health, and even for life itself.

Wishing to conceal the real essence of these techniques, Beverly Galyean recommends, "Of course, we don't call them spirit guides in the public schools. We call them imaginary guides."

They are also disguised under the names, ‘inner guides’, ‘inner wisdom’, ‘guardian angel’, etc. "Call them by the name that feels best to you. I'll call them Spirit Guides, but feel free to substitute any names you wish" (Marcus Allen, Reunion: Tools for Transformation).

According to the teachings of the Church and the patristic writings, these spirit guides are none other than the demons of the air, and it is strictly forbidden to come into any contact with them. The place where they will lead the souls of children who are accustomed to coming into contact with them and to entrusting themselves to them is self-evident.

How well everything has been thought out, and how subtly these things are brought to fruition. St. John the Theologian writes that the closer we are to the end times, the clearer everything will become. Of course, the mechanism of the great delusion is now much more clear than in the past. Having been raised since childhood on all the aforementioned ideas, being accustomed to communication with demons and trusting in their ‘wise guidance’ without any reproach of conscience, mankind, under the sway of such ‘guidance’, will accept the Antichrist in the last days as the fulfillment of the promised bliss, fully convinced that his decrees are correct.

May the Lord save us from any kind of participation in any of this through our ignorance or our negligence.

Of course, not all schools instill New Age ideas to such a degree. However, it appears that the trajectory of further development is planned in this precise direction. Some parents implement home-study. However, one must note that, firstly, this is not always possible and that, secondly, the texts of many home-study courses are developed by the same New Agers who are developing the books for use in the public schools. For example, the Henny Dent Home-Study series was dictated to her by her spirit guide, ‘White Eagle’. These books are filled with hostile attacks on Christianity.

One can transfer children to private or parochial schools; but even here, there is no guarantee that they will be free from undesirable influence. Johanna Michaelson, a former occultist, who writes in her interview with witches (WICCA) that their covens have "laughed themselves silly at how the Church has so whole-heartedly adapted their occult techniques, thinking that as long as they tagged (the name of) Jesus at the end of them that they were perfectly okay" (Like Lambs to the Slaughter).

It is urgent for us to be vigilant with regard to the influences surrounding us, to give more time to our children, to strengthen their trust in us, their parents — a trust which the schools frequently try to undermine. Having their trust, we can explain to them the meaning of what is occurring according to their age and comprehension. Let us teach our children not to participate in acts forbidden by the Church, regardless of how temptingly they are presented. We have entered into the days of the Nativity Fast. By starting with things such as the keeping the Fast, children can learn to withstand temptations, peer pressures, and compromises.

Condemning the compromise of conscience which has occurred in Russia, compromise frequently made under fear of death, let us not agree to worse compromises here in a land of relative freedom. Let us not go down the path of least resistance. Let our conscience remain clear before our children and before God, Who gave them to us for a time. Let us appeal to His aid more frequently by bringing our children to church and by bringing them to the Holy Communion of Christ's Divine Mysteries. Bringing them to church, let us not attend services and perform the ritual only externally, separating it from our everyday life: but, let us take these things into our heart with burning faith and love for Christ, practicing our Faith on a daily basis.

Let us turn all of this piety into a way of life, as it was in Holy Russia. Let us do this without the pride of the Pharisee, without elevating ourselves above those who surround us, not condoning the feeling of superiority in our children. In such a way, we will confess our dedication to God through our deeds and our rejection of approaching evil. We will protect our children; and, like the blessed Joachim and Anna, we will dedicate them to the Lord in order that they may not become the property of the deceiver. If we do not protect our children, we will have to give a full account of our failure before God.

Very Reverend Nikita Grigoriev answers the question posed by reader Dan Everiss - should we consider what is happening in our Church a schism and how should we resolve the problems arisen before us?

____________________________________

Fr. Nikita,

Bless Father!
Why do you seem to be supporting and indeed a part of this schism? Or do I misinterpret your motives? I hope I am wrong. Am I? In a previous email to me, you stated that you have been trying very hard, for years, to prevent a schism. Now I see your name as a member of the schismatic committee. Why Father Nikita? Please respond. Thank you father.
Rd. Daniel Everiss on Oregon

____________________________________

Dear Dan,

I am not aware that my name is listed as a member of any "schismatic committee".

But speaking of schisms I can say this. From the very beginning the enemy of Christ and His Church has tried by all means to destroy it.

At first by savagely murdering its leaders and members, starting with Christ Himself ( who, by the way, was put to death by the legal and properly consecrated Church leaders, albeit very corrupt).

After the centuries of attempts to physically exterminate the Church, the enemy proceeded with distortion of the Holy and God revealed dogmas of the Church (the DNA of our living faith as I like to call them). With the victory of Orthodoxy in the Ecumenical Councils, the enemy turned to a different tactic: schism. This proved quite effective, starting with the Roman schism, because it at first did not actually preach any known heresy but nonetheless began the process of splitting the Church.

Alas this tactic has proven so effective that it continues to our day in greater and greater subtlety and sophistication, "to deceive even the very elect".

Recall that comrade Tuchkov was assigned by the Bolshevik government to work on Met. Sergius NOT to help him subjugate the Church to the Godless authority but to SPLIT the Church. Afterwards Tuchkov was awarded a medal and a citation for SPLITTING the Church. The Bolsheviks at first certainly were not interested in having their own church, they just wanted the Church completely destroyed and have NO church whatsoever. The schism was just the best means to that end.

Similarly the schism in 2007 in our ROCA was engineered to split and weaken the Church.

There can be no doubt that ten years later the next schism in our ROCA is being prepared and will be accomplished. It is clear that people are working very hard to create a schism in our Church to further diminish it and weaken it. The real question is WHO is doing it?

It's very important to remember that often things are not what they seem or are made to appear.

For that reason now it is crucial to deal with this crisis the way the Church has always dealt with crises, by gathering the whole Church, the clergy and the lay members, to sort out all the issues in a conciliar and transparent manner, letting the voice of the Holy Spirit guide the decisions of the Church.

Naturally those who seek the truth will welcome and support this normal and proper course for the Church to resolve any problems that arise (and by the way this is certainly not the first time in the history of the Church that such a situation has arisen, and probably not the last).

Those that eschew the truth will try by all means of slander and falseness to undermine an attempt to convene the Church in a council or Sobor to restore order and clarity in truth.

Those that are gathering the Church together for a Sobor are not schismatics because they are GATHERING the Church and not scattering it. It is those who would prevent the Church from gathering, are the ones who wish to see it split and dispersed. Now is the time to not lose one's head and blindly follow loud propaganda but to exercise utmost sobriety and in diligent prayer ask for discernment from Christ that we be not deceived but see things as they really are.

It is for our indifference and complacency and sins that God is allowing the evil of another schism to try our faith.

Know that the Church of Christ is always the one where the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth lives and breathes.

Part 1 of an interview on Orthodox Christian iconography with Hieromonk Patrick of St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery in Kelseyville, CA. Hieromonk Patrick discusses his experience as a student of the master iconographer, Leonid Ouspensky.

Hieromonk Patrick of St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery in Kelseyville, CA discusses the heresy of iconoclasm. This is the 3rd video and the final installment of Hieromonk Patrick's interview regarding Orthodox Christian iconography.

For a mere $100, the Typikon of the Great Church can be yours. There
have been ragtag, samizdat and otherwise unofficial renderings of this,
which we have acquired over the years, but this is the first thing IN
PRINT.
JPP

3 Comments:

____________________

Here are two pertinent quotes from The (ROCOR) Festal Menaion (page

543) regarding the Violakis Typikon:

"Violakis made extensive and often ill-advised changes, especially in

the order of the service for Matins on Sunday: for example, the

katavasiai are appointed to be sung all together at the end of

Canticle Eight of the Canon, instead of occurring one at the end of

each canticle; and the reading of the Gospel is moved from its old

position before the Canon, and awkwardly inserted between Canticles

Eight and Nine. Thus Canticle Nine is separated from those which

precede it, and the whole structure of the Canon is unhappily

obscured."

"In making these and other changes, perhaps Violakes was not

innovating but simply giving formal approval to practices which had

already become established in parishes. Presumably the Gospel was

moved nearer to the end of the service because so few of the

congregation arrived in time for the earlier parts of Matins!"

____________________

Generally when the Canon is read, (the GOC) follows the Great Church practice with the Katavasiae.

The transference of the Matinal Gospel rite is only done if one of the 11 Sunday Eothonon Gospels are read. Great Feasts falling on a Sunday, the normative placement of the Gospel is prescribed.

The Sunday Matins Gospel and such are famously used to discredit the 1888 Typikon of the Great Church, but fails to mention that it also is very sound a many places, and provides a generally normative practices for parishes without the excesses of relying on a largely monastic typikon, which nobody, it seems, (even the monastics) is able to follow in toto, and in spite of current Patriarchal practices to the contrary, actually prescribes the chanting of the Typika Psalms and Beatitudes with verses as a normative Sunday practice. Some practices, I believe to have more liturgical continuity, such as the "Sunday after Feast" rule, which prescribes only the Festal hymns for given celebration to be chanted in conjunction with the normative Resurrectional hymns, as opposed to the Slavic/Sabaitic practice of "doing everything" (resurrection/feast/saint of the day) in an often confusing and labour intensive manner depending on the ranking of the saint vs the Feast, the only saint's day elevating over this rule, of course would be a saint of vigil ranking.

Many practices that fell into disuse BEFORE and AFTER Violakis's revisions, i.e. the litanies following the Gospel, the full chanting of the Prokeimena/Alleluia dialogue is making something of a come back amongst certain chanters and choirs, and even written into some rather notable recent chant books. Supposedly the Typikon of Georgios Rigas corrects the Sunday Gospel/Psalm 50 issue. It is also a VERY monastic typikon in most places and would have to be modified in a parish setting.

My two shekels.

JPP

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This commentary, I think is a little more complete and nuanced, from a recent book published: The Typikon Decoded-

"Though the Sabaite Typikon remains in use to our day in churches of the Russian Tradition, and in Greek monasteries, a new "parish" typikon appeared in the nineteenth century and has spread through the Greek-speaking world and the Balkans. It is the work of Constantine, Protopsaltis of the Great Church of Constantinople, (John's note: The author for some reason neglects that this typikon was finalized by George Violakis, Protopsaltis, a successor of Constantine) and first apeared in 1838. This modern typikon is built on a Sabaite base, but for pastoral reasons, it incorporates a number of Studite and asmatic (John's note: the old Cathedral medieval rite practices). Thus vigils were suppressed (John's note: there is more and more of a trend to buck this). Consequently, matins is always celebrated in the morning. The artoklasia can be performed either at the conclusion of vespers or at the end of matins. The reading of the Matins Gospel can be shifted to after the eighth ode of the canon. Rubrics for the Feast of the Annunciation have been greatly simplified, often at the cost of arbitrary innovations which are today criticized by liturgical scholars. In general, it can be said that not all liturgists approve of this reformed typikon."

Another typikon was composed by a priest John (or is it George) Rigas that corrects some of the oddities of the Violakis. It should be noted that the monastic typikon was in and of itself an innovation, and vastly different from the order of the Great Church in the middle ages. The Cathedral Parish has had fairly nuanced approach to the Typikon and a history of an order that hybridized the Violakis typikon with the corrections of the Rigas, particularly at Matins. That said, many of the simplifications of the Violakis work, I find entirely appropriate for parish usage without relying on the undue abbreviations of, case in point, psalmic texts. To blame the Violakis for the excesses of the Greek church, particularly the modernist, would be an oversimplification. Case in point, many of our own parishes utilize antiphons at the Liturgy, whereas the actual Violakis Typikon prescribes the Typika (Ps 102, 148) and the Beatitudes with their troparia.

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THE SISTER CHURCHES

The True Orthodox Churches of Romania, and Bulgaria, and with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and with the Synod in Resistance, are called by the Grace of the Lord to coexist in Mysteriological communion.

from §4 of “Schedule of Steps in the Union Process” Feb. 2014

VL AGAFANGEL PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Theotokos and all the Saints: keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism, and give all of us the strength to endure the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ. Amen

QUOTE

"I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you... I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.”

St. John Chrysostom

QUOTE

"If we have a good priest (or bishop), we give thanks to God. If a bad one, we endure him".

- old Russian saying

QUOTE

"And here is something to which I would like to draw your attention to – something about which very many do not think about. Father Archimandrite Constantine, whom probably many of you know, the reposed editor of the journal “Orthodox Rus’”, a profound Christian mind, considered that the most terrible among all the achievements of the communists was that the communists created their own false-church, a soviet church which they shoved onto the unfortunate people in place of the genuine Church which went underground into the catacombs. Do not think that I am exaggerating or that Father Constantine was exaggerating!

Once, in the year 1918, a Pan-Russian Church Council was held. At this Council, the entire Pan-Russian Church together with its first holy hierarch, Patriarch Tikhon anathematized, excommunicated from the Church not only the theomachists and godless ones themselves, but also all those who would collaborate with them."

~St. Philaret of NY

QUOTE

"To the Russians abroad, it has been granted to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves. But if it does not perform this purpose and even abases Orthodoxy by its life, the Diaspora will have before itself two paths: either to be converted to the path of repentance, having acquired forgiveness through prayer to God and being reborn spiritually and to being capable of giving rebirth to our suffering homeland; or else being rejected by God and remaining in banishment, persecuted by everyone, until gradually it will degenerate and disappear from the face of the earth."

from Vladika John's report to the All-Diaspora Sobor in 1938

QUOTE

The apostasy of our times, to a degree unique in Christian history, is proceeding not primarily by false teachings or canonical deviations, but rather by a false understanding of Orthodoxy on the part of those who may even be perfectly Orthodox in their dogmatic teaching and canonical situation. A correct "Orthodoxy" deprived of the Spirit of true Christianity—this is the meaning of Sergianism, and it cannot be fought by calling it a "heresy," which it is not, nor by detailing its canonical irregularities, which are only incidental to something much more important.

- Russia's Catacomb Saints

QUOTE

Let it not be thought, however, that I affirm that it is necessary to prize every peace. For I know that there is a splendid disagreement and the most destructive unanimity. Yet one must love a good peace which has a good purpose: unity with God.

-St. Gregory the Theologian

QUOTE

... To pious Christians the fact that the world has fallen into godlessness is to them obvious, and they are ready to see it as an unfortunate historical inevitability ...

Professor Viktor Trostinkov

QUOTE

If you want to have assurance that you are saved, repent now that you are young and healthy and it is manifest that you left sin while you were still able to sin. But if you persevere in sin into your old age, why then you did not leave sin, but rather sin left you.

St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

QUOTE

Live in peace not only with your friends, but also with your enemies; but only your personal enemies, and not the enemies of God.

St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves

QUOTE

Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.

St. John 7:24

QUOTE

"If Russia is not ressurrected, a new Golgotha threatens the whole world."

Priest Vladimir Evsukoff 1980†

QUOTE

A man who does not express a desire to link himself to the latest of the saints (in time) in all love and humility owing to a certain distrust in himself, will never be linked to the preceding saints and will not be admitted to their succession, even though he thinks he possesses all possible faith and love for God and for all His saints. He will be cast out of their midst, as one who refused to take humbly the place allotted to him by God before all time, and to link himself to that latest saint (in time) as God had disposed.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

QUOTE

SCOBA, to which world orthodoxy gives such great significance, reproaching us for not belonging to it, actually is in no way a canonical organ. The Russian Church Outside of Russia was invited to take part in these conferences; however, our Church refused to send representatives there after clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate were invited. "We never and nowhere will sit at one table with them; by this our spiritual communion with the Universal Church is not broken."

Archpriest George Grabbe 1969

QUOTE

"Let us always thank the Lord that we are in the Holy Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which throughout the 80 years of its existence has trodden the straight, royal path of God, without ever turning aside and losing its way."

QUOTE

The passions lying hidden in the soul provide the demons with the means of arousing impassioned thoughts in us. Then, fighting the intellect through these thoughts, they force it to give its assent to sin. When it has been overcome, they lead it to sin in the mind; and when this has been done they induce it, captive as it is, to commit the sin in action. Having thus desolated the soul by means of these thoughts, the demons then retreat, taking the thoughts with them, and only the spectre or idol of sin remains in the intellect. Referring to this our Lord says, 'When you see the abominable idol of desolation standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand)... (Matt 24:15). For man's intellect is a holy place and a temple of God in which the demons, having desolated the soul by impassioned thoughts, set up the idol of sin. That these things have already taken place in history no one, I think, who has read Josephus will doubt; though some say that they will also come to pass in the time of the Antichrist.

Philokalia

QUOTE

There are three things that impel us towards what is holy: natural instincts, angelic powers, and probity of intention. Natural instincts impel us, when, for example, we do to others what we would wish them to do to us (cf. Luke 6:31), or when we see someone suffering deprivation or in need and naturally feel compassion. Angelic powers impel us when, being ourselves impelled to something worthwhile, we find we are providentially helped and guided. We are impelled by probity of intention when, discriminating between good and evil, we choose the good.

Philokalia

QUOTE

The outward Gospel of social idealism is a symptom of loss of faith.

Fr. Seraphim Rose

QUOTE

Impurity of intellect consists first in having false knowledge, ...

Philokalia

QUOTE

Isn't Marx really the third of a trio with Darwin and Freud as a practical source in the war against revealed truth?

Fr. Seraphim Rose

Letters, 1972

QUOTE

QUOTE

To: ROCA members from the MP

"You have to understand that you have long been in a false church, which implants in its members' souls, a false spirituality, which in turn takes root and grows stronger and stronger, the longer a man stays in it."

Bishop Athanasius, 2014

QUOTE

Mankind has gone mad, and we see with horror the abyss into which it is being drawn. Let us lay aside every worldly care, and let us fall down in prayer and readiness for the dread Judgment of the Lord. Death will not come with bombs and poisons. Death has already come and take up residence with us and in us, and has made corpses of us, Mammon has overwhelmed this sinful world, which is dominated by Queen Science, Lucifer himself, which with one hand makes medicines and machines for man's foolish happiness and with the other terrorizes him by means of the bomb! Such is the sorry state of knowledge and the agony of the world through and through. Let us lift up our hearts.

-Photios Kontoglou (†1965) letter to Dr. Cavarnos dated 5/10/57

QUOTE

"Psychopaths are a superior subspecies. We transcend humanity. We are Nature's Supermen. We deserve the subservience and availability of everyone around us. Luckily, every year 100-million people are born throughout the world. We have 100-million new choices every year."

-Sam Vaknin, self-realized psychopath

QUOTE

Our Saviour placed the Church in the world in order to save the world, and Satan is always trying to place the world into the Church in order to destroy the Church.

attributed to Desert Fathers

QUOTE

"If you see lying and hypocrisy, expose them in front of all, even if they are clothed inpurple and fine linen."

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